Tom Uttech

Tom Uttech, Nind Awatchige, 2003, oil on canvas, 112 1/2 x 122 1/2 x 2 1/2 in., New Orleans Museum of Art: Museum Purchase, the James and Maya Brace Fund, 2004.29, © Tom Uttech. Image courtesy New Orleans Museum of Art

Tom Uttech, Enassamishhinjijweian, 2009, oil on linen, 103 x 112 in., Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, © Tom Uttech. Image courtesy Alexandre Gallery, New York. Photo by Steven Watson

Tom Uttech’s monumental paintings resonate with the mystical power of the American wilderness. They are inspired by the artist’s treks through the unspoiled forests of northern Wisconsin and Quetico Provincial Park in Ontario, Canada. In many ways, Uttech could be considered a descendant of nineteenth-century thinkers like Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, who argued for an approach to spirituality that was intimately connected to immersion in nature. His otherworldly paintings are filled with subtle references to the divinity of nature and a belief that sheer beauty can be as spiritually transformative as organized religion or art.

Tom Uttech, Nin Mamakadendam, 2011–2012, oil on linen, 67 x 73 in., Cordelia Nicholas LLC, Connecticut, © Tom Uttech. Image courtesy Alexandre Gallery, New York